Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to call origination management systems of the type wherein telephone calls are automatically dialed and, when a call results in an answer, transferred to an available operator. More particularly, the invention is directed to an improved pacing system which regulates the rate at which calls are dialed to maximize the time an operator talks to clients and to minimize the number of answered calls for which there is no operator available.
Description of the Prior Art
Automated calling systems which dial clients, listens for the call result (i.e., ringing, busy signal, answer, no answer, etc.), and when a call results in an answer, automatically transfers the call to an available operator are in general use today by a variety of businesses, groups and organizations. For example, banks and other creditors use these systems for debt collection, publishers use them for soliciting subscriptions, and charitable and political organizations use them to promote their causes and solicit funds. In all these cases, the client contact is by an operator whose job is to deliver the message, answer questions and input data to the system. The purposes of such call origination management systems are to automate the process of calling clients and to process the data input in the course of a call with a client, thereby increasing the productivity of the operators.
FIG. 1 shows a system overview of one such system. The heart of the system is a main system unit 10, which typically includes central processing unit (CPU), telephone line control unit (LCU), hard disk storage 11, and a tape drive 12. A plurality of outbound telephone lines 13 are connected to the system unit 10. The number n of these outbound telephone lines typically is on the order of 48, but may be more or less depending on the specific application. A plurality of voice and data terminal stations 14 are also connected to the system unit 10. The number m of these voice and data terminal stations may be, for example, 24 for the case where the number n of the telephone lines is 48. In other words, the number m of the voice and data terminals is less than the number of telephone lines. This allows the system unit 10 to dial calls while all operators are busy talking to clients.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, each of the voice and data terminal stations comprises a combination video display terminal (VDT) and keyboard 15 and a telephone headset and microphone 16. FIG. 2 illustrates a typical operator screen as displayed by the video display terminal. When a call is transferred to an operator, a portion of this screen will already have been filled in by the CPU in the main system unit 10. Specifically, section 20 of the screen providing the name, address and telephone number of the client will have been filled in so that the operator knows immediately who has been called. During the course of the conversation, the operator may confirm the data and, if necessary, make corrections using the keyboard. Section 22 of the screen is also filled in automatically by the CPU based on the login data from the operator at the beginning of the campaign and the CPU's clock and calendar. The top portion 24 of the screen is available to be filled in by the operator with any pertinent information from the contact with the client. In addition, where a bill is to be paid or a pledge made that is to be charged to a credit card, the operator would fill in portion 26 of the screen during the call.
FIG. 3 illustrates the data flow of the system. The first step in beginning a calling campaign is to obtain the calling data, typically via tapes 30, disks 31 or through a communication link to a host computer 32. The data is input at 33, and the system then organizes the data into the records for the campaign. When the campaign is started, the data is loaded into the "input call list", as indicated at 34. The system then preloads a dialing queue 35 with a certain number of records from the calling data. As the dialing process begins, the system manages the number of calls being made at any one time based on the number of operators that are available to receive calls. When a connection is established to a client, the system routes the call to an available operator and displays the client's record on the operator screen. The operator is now ready to make the presentation to the client and record information from the transaction on the display screen. Once the operator completes the call, he or she presses a designated key on the keyboard to record the status of the contact and terminate the call. The system then makes the operator station available for another call.
After the operator has pressed the designated key, the system validates the client's record in an output call list 36, and, depending on the outcome of the call, separates the record in the corresponding output file at 37. For example, if the particular person to be contacted is not at home, the operator may press a key telling the system to place the client's record into the call-back file 38. When, for example, a call results in a future follow-up call, the operator presses another key to immediately print information of the transaction on a printer, as indicated at 39. Records which require no further action (i.e., a sale is made, wrong number, etc.) are marked complete and are not put into the call-back file but instead are put in a sale file 40.
When all the numbers have been exhausted in the campaign list, the system automatically begins a statistical analysis of both operator and campaign performance, as indicated at 41. Finally, a closeout function 42 is performed during which all relevant data of the campaign is written to a tape 43 or disk 44 or transmitted to a host computer 45.
A key to the successful operation of a call origination management system of the type described is the pacing algorithm which calculates the number of calls to dial and the best estimate of the time when to dial them. In the prior Trunk Operation Management System (TOMS), which is a predictive outbound dialing system, the dialer uses a pacing algorithm based on cumulative statistics that are periodically refreshed. The goal of this system is to maximize efficiency, as measured by the amount of talk time with clients, with a minimum number of resources (i.e., the telephone trunk lines) while at the same time minimizing the number of nuisance calls. Nuisance calls are those calls that result in an answer by a client but, because an operator was unavailable, the system must hang up on the client.
An example of this prior system is described in application Ser. No. 07/027,359 filed by Douglas A. Samuelson on Mar. 18, 1987, and assigned to the assignee of this application, now Pat. No. 4,858,120. The Samuelson system analyzed the problem based on queuing theory, which is not actually applicable in a call origination system since the system has control of when telephone numbers are dialed. Samuelson did attempt to statistically analyze various parameters of the calling process and, based on that analysis, predict the number of calls and when the calls should be made. However, in practice, it has been found that the system, while working well for some applications, worked poorly in other applications. That is, in some cases, the efficiency was high and the number of nuisance calls acceptably low, while in other cases, the efficiency was either low or the number of nuisance calls were unacceptably high or both.